A/N: Sorry for the late update guys. I tried to put up the chapters last night but the server was down. And I was feeling so tired last night, I couldn't really wait for it to work to put up the chapters. My grandmother had a heart attack earlier this week and she was hospitalized and I was busy taking care of her. Thankfully she is stable now and she got discharged today! So yeah, I'm in a mood for celebration. Which is why I will be putting up new chapters for FOUR fics! Isn't that awesome?
Okay so now that that is done, I would like to thank everyone for sticking with this fic so far. ^_^ Shattered Secrets has crossed the hundred reviews mark! So maybe I might update next week too. (That still depends on how busy this week will be but still I will try to make it so that you have something to look forward to next Saturday)
So anyone managed to guess where Syaoran might have hidden?
No? *pouts* fine, I'll be telling you that in this chapter.
Now please without further ado, go ahead and enjoy!
Don't forget to review. ;)
The tiny ship trembled and shook as it entered the atmosphere, the force of the friction heating up the inside of the ship enough to make sweat bead her brow. Wiping it off with an annoyed grunt, Sakura carefully maneuvered the ship to a secluded spot- a small, grove-like formation made from the twisted, gnarly pillars of stones that had somehow developed despite the acidic rain that wreaked havoc on this small planet. It was located several miles away from the research facility she had to break into. The distance was enough to keep her safe from being observed by the naked eye as the vessel descended from the sky, but not too far to be difficult to approach via hoverboards or gliders.
Smiling at the orange sky lit by the evening sun, she muttered a spell to change her clothes to a more comfortable outfit than her sleeping sweatpants and t-shirt. It was a handy spell, but luckily it wasn't very widely known, since she herself had learnt about it only after she had began working for Yuuko. She doubted any of the hunters knew about it, which was probably why she had been able to elude capture for so long.
Unfastening her belt she stood up, stretching her legs as she reached out with her right hand and pressed a button that released the glass covering of the cockpit. A blast of warm, humid air hit her face as she climbed out and landed neatly on her feet.
Looking around, she took in her surroundings, observing the terrain to familiarize herself with it, noting subconsciously how the rock formations seemed to catch fire in the light of the setting star in the southern skies. Turning her head eastwards, she squinted her eyes in the direction of the research facility, visible as a small, silver dot across the vast plains of sand that separated her from the building. In the distance she saw a mutated sand-worm break the surface of the sand plain, slithering across the desert chasing after what was probably a pack of mutated dogs.
Letting her gaze travel further towards the quickly darkening northern skies, she let a small grin form on her lips. The desert gave way to rocky, mountainous region in that direction, full of rock formations and canyons. It was the perfect cover for her to approach the facility, despite having no doubt a whole lot more mutated species of local fauna making it quite dangerous, but she'd rather face a pack of mutant wolves than go up against a sand-worm. Those things were just plain nasty.
Shaking herself out of those thoughts, she looked back at the small ship she had arrived on the planet on.
'You lied about killing those men, right?' The hunter's voice echoed inside her head.
"I don't have time for this," she mumbled in annoyance, walking purposefully towards the back of the vessel.
'How many?' Tomoyo sounded so disappointed in her when she had asked her that question.
'See you in two days, Cherry'. She stopped walking, her hands clenching into fists by her sides.
Ryanban… that slimy little bastard. She'd get back at him for black mailing her like this.
No one, no one messed with Cherry.
She'd make sure to make an example out of him for the rest of her clients.
Smiling slightly at the thought, she resumed her walking, thinking about how she should look over the floor plans and other important information about the research facility in the cargo hold before going off to the building itself.
She stopped near the rear and pulled on a small lever to open the hull. As she lowered the mechanism, her mind vaguely wondered about what might be happening back on the Little Dragon. Was Ryanban keeping his word? What if he hurt the others while she was down here?
The panel issued a soft hiss as the hull smoothly began to slide from its place.
No, she mentally reprimanded herself, she mustn't think this way. She had to focus on the task at hand. She could worry about the others later.
If she were to fail due to some careless mistake on her part, she would be responsible for the deaths of five innocent… Wait a second!
Ryanban didn't know about Syaoran being onboard the ship, did he? What if one of his men found him wherever he was hiding? They'd kill him without a thought.
Shit! This was bad.
She should contact Fai and let him know about Syaoran. But… Fai had passed out from blood loss.
And there were no other magical beings onboard that could help.
Should she go back, perhaps?
No.
That would put the others in danger. Ryanban was well known for his temper.
Maybe she could... her thoughts came to a sudden halt as the hull opened completely and the lights flickered on automatically, lighting up the small cabin. However, it was not the metallic room itself that had her breath catching in her throat.
No.
It was the curled-up form of a certain amber-eyed teen, huddled up in one of the corners that had her whole body frozen in shock.
"S-Syaoran?" she hastily clambered inside, moving towards him, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Hearing the harsh tone directed at him, Syaoran curled in on himself whimpering softly.
"Wait a minute," she said, more to herself than to the teen, but the amber-eyed male looked at her with guarded eyes. "When I told you to go hide… You hid in here!" she exclaimed, smacking herself on the forehead, her action making Syaoran jump in fright. But Sakura did not notice this as she began pacing, all the while muttering loudly.
"Great, so if he's down here, it's only the four of them up there. Ryanban won't be able to hurt him, but I bet Tomoyo must be freaking out about him right now. And Kurogane too, probably. Oh my God! What are they going to do when they find out he came here with me? This is no place for him to be… but then again, I doubt the ship is either. But… Okay." she paused to take a deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried to stop herself from hyperventilating.
"Relax, Sakura. It's not like you meant to bring him with you on a potentially fatal job. I'm sure the others will understand. They'll understand that… oh, who am I kidding?" she groaned, slumping on the ground dejectedly, "They're gonna kill me if something were to happen to him. Kurogane will probably slice me in two and then chop me up into microscopic pieces. Then Tomoyo will make a stew out of it, and Fai will probably feed it to those mutated sand worms. Oh… I am so screwed. If it were only me I would have stolen a ship from the lab and escaped on that since I was going to use the engine of this one to make myself a glider, but now that Syaoran is here, what the hell am I going to do? I can't take him with me. But there won't be enough time for me to come back here to fix the ship and escape. And I might get caught if I dally around on this planet in one of their ships. I am so, so, so, sooo screwed. I'm so-" she broke off her rant, blinking a couple of times as she noticed that her amber-eyed companion had left his earlier spot on the floor. "Syaoran, what are you doing?"
The teen was messing around with the twin jet-propulsion systems of the vessel. How he managed to get them open without the proper tools escaped her, but she could only sit there and watch him with her mouth agape as he dismantled them both from the main engine and turned around to smile at her proudly.
"Gliders." He beamed at her as he walked over to a small toolbox tucked into one of the metallic walls that she noticed only just now. "I'll go too." Reaching inside, he withdrew a screw driver and a small laser torch. He lit the torch up and began slicing up the lightweight yet sturdy metal plates used to build the floor of the ship.
"What do you mean 'you'll come too'?" she almost shrieked in hysteria, but somehow, Syaoran seemed unaffected by her plight.
"I'll come." Was all he said as he walked back to the engine and fiddled with the mechanism inside.
-0-
It was a couple of hours later and Sakura had calmed down completely. The sun had set long ago and it was now dark outside, with the acidic rain pelting the ground outside. The ship's metallic surface was kept safe only thanks to the shields that Sakura had the sense to activate as soon as the first drop of water fizzled against the vessel.
Now it was raining full force, the rocks hissing and spitting as they reacted with the liquid while thunder roared over head, the sky lighting up with occasional flashes of lightening.
Syaoran had been working non-stop on the gliders, and for some reason Sakura had let him be, thinking over and reworking parts of her plan to incorporate Syaoran's presence into it. She figured she'd try contacting Fai telepathically once again a short while later, he'd have probably woken up by now.
Telepathy was something all accomplished mages and sorcerers could perform. But sadly, it only worked for magical beings. No ordinary human could ever hope to receive a message in that form since their brains could not pick up those signals.
Fai, being a mage, had been able to receive her message about Ryanban's arrival earlier that day, which was the only reason why he had rushed towards the cargo hold.
Rolling up the blueprints of the building, Sakura stood up, stretching her legs a little as she walked over to Syaoran, who was so immersed in his work, he didn't even notice her until she was crouching right next to him.
"Syaoran, if you're going to come along, you'll have to do exactly as I say, alright?"
"Okay," he nodded once, not looking up from where he was welding the modified propulsion system to the glider base- in this case, part of the metal plates used in the flooring.
"I'm going to try and contact Fai." She sighed, straightening up as she headed back to the side of the ship which she had been occupying for the last two hours.
Closing her eyes, she exhaled, clearing her mind of all thoughts. The magic would require a whole lot more concentration now that the distance had increased manifold. She opened up her mind and let her mind's eye see the world around her, sensing auras of magical and non magical beings, animals and plants. She noticed Syaoran's forest-green aura enshrouded in that thick suffocating veil, a true anomaly if there ever was one. She had never before seen anything like it. But, realizing that she was losing focus, she redirected her mind away from her current location, reaching out in space in the direction she knew Little Dragon was in.
Her heart sank as she realized that Fai's aura, though still present, was a bit too faint for him to be conscious.
Fai, can you hear me? She called out anyways. His aura flickered but did not brighten. He was still knocked out.
Fai, wake up.
Who's there? Hearing the voice of someone unexpected, Sakura jumped, almost breaking off the mental connection.
A/N: Review if you think cliffies are annoying. ;)
Review if you have any questions, comments, suggestions or guesses.